Cummins Westport wins order for more double-decker bus engines in Beijing

VANCOUVER, Aug. 19 Cummins Westport Inc., a joint venture of Cummins Inc. of Columbus, Indiana, and Westport Innovations Inc. of Vancouver, B.C., announced today that it has won a second order for natural gas bus engines for double-decker buses from the Beijing Transportation Company (BJT).

The order is for 50 B5.9-230G low-emissions natural gas engines to be installed in double-decker buses manufactured by Ankai Chassis, Hefei, Anhui province, and the Nanjing Jinling Double Decker Factory, Nanjing, Jiangsu province. The buses are scheduled for delivery before the end of the year. This order follows an earlier one for 140 B5.9 engines also for double-decker buses that were delivered late last year and are now in commercial service.

"By committing to natural gas as the future fuel for its expanding transportation needs, China has declared that the mass transit vehicles that form the backbone of its transit system will operate on the cleanest available technology in the world," says Cummins Westport President Hugh Foden, who took up his position on August 1. Previously, Mr. Foden was Cummins Area Business Director for South East Asia.

"This partnership with the Beijing transit authorities is evidence of our commitment to building our business for engines powered by natural gas in the Asian marketplace. We are now aggressively pursuing orders in other cities both in China and other Asian countries," he says.

"And the use of the B5.9 on double-decker buses shows we have the potential to expand the market for our natural gas engines and that they are compatible with a number of different bus platforms."

Double-decker buses are used in the Chinese cities of Dalian, Shanghai and Hong Kong. They also operate in Singapore.

The Cummins Westport partnership with BJT began in 1999, when BJT purchased 300 Cummins-powered compressed natural gas buses for its public transport fleet. Today, Beijing has one of the largest compressed natural gas bus fleets in the world, with over 1,900 Cummins Westport natural gas buses in operation on the streets of the city.

Since Beijing was selected to host the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese government has put a priority on improving air quality while supporting the buildup of urban mass transit. By 2008, it is expected that 90 per cent of Beijing's buses will use clean natural gas energy.

Cummins Inc. is a global power leader in engines, electrical power generation systems and related technologies. Westport Innovations is the leading developer of natural gas fuel systems for diesel engines. Cummins Westport, formed in 2001, develops and markets low-emissions alternative fuel engines manufactured by Cummins